Major trade, investment plans outlined

By Nishel Fernando

Sri Lanka will launch the ‘National Export Strategy’ next month and an ‘Innovation and Entrepreneurship Strategy’ shortly afterwards, announced Minister of Development Strategies and International Trade, Malik Samarawickrama.

Speaking at the Sri Lanka-Singapore Business Forum organized by the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce yesterday, the Minister said, “The aim of the ‘National Export Strategy’ is to build more and more export brands from Sri Lanka – ranging from high value and high quality food and beverages, to leisure boats, IT services, and electronic components, while the new Innovation and Entrepreneurship Strategy will have programmes to support technology upgrading, start-ups and collaborative innovation.”

Joining the panel discussion, BOI Director General and Head of Investment Appraisal, Duminda Ariyasinghe revealed that the removal of tax holidays has not affected genuine investments.

He said recently Rigid Tyre Corporation (Pvt) Ltd increased its investments in its integrated tyre manufacturing plant in Horana from $75 million to $250 million following Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’s visit.

He highlighted that the project will become the single largest export manufacturing project in Sri Lanka. Moreover, Ariyasinghe said the Hambantota Industrial soon would realize a large investment from an exporter manufacturer outside of Hambantota. He was optimistic that Sri Lanka would comfortably exceed
$ two billion in FDI this year.

He noted that reforms to position BOI itself as a facilitator has been a success, where it is being implemented through two committees, prioritizing large scale projects and fast tracking them.

Speaking of the Port City Project, he noted that the International Financial City (IFC) in the project was planning to play a role as a centre for International arbitration, similar to London.

Advisor to the Ministry of Finance, Deshal De Mel revealed that the Government was in the process of putting the regulatory framework for its human resource arm. He said that once its setup, the agency will identify skill shortages in different sectors and will implement a unilateral process with the assistance of the Department of Immigration allowing firms to import labour with strict monitoring.

According to De Mel, the chapter on government procurement in Singapore – Sri Lanka FTA, would make Sri Lanka to treat all bidders in an equal manner, boosting transparency in international government procurements. Singapore Trade and Industry of Singapore Minister, S. Iswaran said that the Sri Lankan government had assured that the bidding process for government procurement would be conducted in a transparent manner.

Three Singapore companies signed joint ventures with local firms at the occasion in the presence of the two Ministers. They signed four Agreements for new projects including food, aquaculture, hospitality and infrastructure. Singapore SME Food Studio will set up and operate premium food courts in two Sri Lankan malls at Havelock Town and Shangri La, while aquaculture business Ark Holdings signed an agreement to build and operate a crab farm in Puttalam District. In the hospitality sector, Hotel Property Limited signed an agreement with BOC to refurbish the original Grand Oriental Hotel (GOH) building to manage it under the Four Seasons Hotel Chain.
Addressing the business community, Minister, S. Iswaran said that the FTA agreement depicts Sri Lanka’s determination to reconnect with global markets.

Samarawickrama added, “the Singapore-Sri Lanka FTA is part of a broader strategy of looking East to renew our trade relationships. While we focus on growing and sustaining in our traditional markets of the US and Europe, we have begun to diversify our markets towards Asia and focus on plugging into Asian supply chains. This FTA is our first agreement with a South East Asian country – and we envisage this as a first step towards closer integration with ASEAN, and potentially be part of the RCEP – Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership in the future.”

He emphasized that Sri Lanka was committed to improving the investment climate and illustrated that the Government has set-up eight task forces last year to improve its performance in the Ease Of Doing Business Index. “By next year you will see the results – on registering a new business, finding land and registering property, and easier international trade through an ‘Electronic Single Window'”, he said.

“We are working closely with International Enterprise Singapore to help forge bilateral investment linkages. Moreover, International Enterprise Singapore and the Temasek Foundation are working with our Export Development Board to benchmark good practices and impart valuable lessons on how to enhance our services to exporters”, he further added.

Samarawickrama invited Singaporean firms to invest in manufacturing zones and to do business in Sri Lanka to access the South Asian region and beyond.

Iswaran noted that the momentum was increasing for Singaporean firms in Sri Lanka as many companies are currently exploring opportunities in growth sectors such as hospitality, consumer and infrastructure.